Sheet-metal internal-combustion engine.



A. H. LEIPERT.

SHEET METAL INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2|. I917.

1,286,667, Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

A TTOR/VEKS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUGUST H. LEIPERT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONAL MOTOR COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

Application filed June 21, 1917. Serial No. 176,043.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, AUoUs'r H. LEIPERT, a citizen of the United States, residin in the borough of Brooklyn of the city of ew York, in the State of New York, have'invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sheet-Metal Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the followingis a specification, reference being had to t e accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

In an application filed by the present aplicant on the 21st day of June, 1917, Ser.

0. 176,042, there is shown and described an internal combustion engine casing formed of sheet metal and having the outer walls of the cylinder section integral with the side walls of the crank case. In said application the end walls of the crankcase are formed as independent plates secured in the side walls. By the present invention there is sought to provide an engine casing which may be found more convenient from the manufacturing standpoint and may, indeed, be superior in use. In accordance with the present invention, the end walls of the crank case are formed of sheet metal plates which are pressed with the bottom plate of the cylinder section from a single blank, this bottom plate having openings stamped therein to receive the lower ends of the cylinders. The proposed construction also contemplates a modified union of the ends of the flaps constituting the end walls of the cylinder section. By a modification of the improved construction there is also provided a casing in which the cylinder section and crank case walls are formed of two symmetrical blanks united along a longitudinal plane extending through the median line of the crank case. The details of the construction will appear from the description of the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a conventional view of the improved casing partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section the head being also shown.

Fig. 2 is a view in transverse section through the motor shown in Fig. 1 and taken along the planes indicated by the broken line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a view in horizontal section taken along the plane indicated by the line 33 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a development of the stamping from a single blank of the end walls of the crank case prior to forming.

The construction constituting the subject matter of the present invention is somewhat like that shown and described in the aforesaid application, the side walls a of the cylinder section of the casing being stamped integral with the end walls a thereof and with the side walls'ar. of the crank case. In the aforesaid case, however, some of the features differ. For instance, the opposed flaps a which are pressed together to form the end walls are, in the present construction, of

such dimensions as to insure a butt joint, indicated generally at if, instead of a lap joint. The butt joint thus formed may be welded at the ends or may be covered by an independent strip 6 disposed inside of the seams and fastened to the opposed flaps, respectively, as by means of rivets b, or by a weld. The connection thus described insures a smooth flush end Wall for the motor and is sure to be tight and durable.

Another feature of the present construction has to do with the cylinder plates. As shown in Fig. 1, there. is a top plate a for the cylinders 03, which is stamped with suitable openings to receive the upper ends of the cylinders and is supported within the side walls of the cylinder section of the casing by any suitable union, such as aweld. The lower plate 6, instead of being formed as a separate element corresponding to the top plate, is stamped from a single blank with end plates 0 which constitute the end walls of the crank case. These end plates 6 may have openings e formed therein to receive the bearings for the crank shaft. The bottom plate e may have formed therein a series of openings e corresponding to the openings in the top plate a to receive the lower ends of the cylinders and maintain them in proper position, these cylinders being generally welded in place. In assembling the parts of the motor described, the bottom plate 0, pressed to form, will be provided with inclined flanges e which bear throughout their length on the inner side walls a of the crank case and are united permanently therewith as by means of rivets or a weld. The end walls e, integral with the bottom plate e, are bent at right angles .thereto toward the open ends of the crank case. These end walls e are also preferably flanged by bending along the dotted lines e shown in Fi 4, so that these flanges will rest within t e side Walls of the crank case and engage said walls with a relatively large contacting area. The walls of the crank case may then be united with the flanged portion of these end walls e b means of rivets e or by a weld, as may e best.

The resulting construction, to all intents a unitary and permanent one, embodies all of the advantages of the construction described in the application above identified and may be found preferably mechanically or for manufacturing reasons. .The bottom plate e for the cylinders being integral with the end walls of the crank case is readily positioned and united with the side walls of the motor and insures the maintenance of the cylinders d in fixed relation to the crank shaft which bears in the openings 6 in said end plates. The construction is also simple and inex ensive since the parts referred to are struc up in a single stamping operation and when once pressed to form may be readily assembled in place as a unit.

In accordancewith a modification, indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2, the cylinder section walls and crank case side walls may be formed in two symmetrical sections, divided longitudinally of the engine on the line of division indicated by the flanges a extending along the median line of the bottom of the crank case. The two halves of the engine in this proposed construction will be symmetrical and their lower edges will be flanged, as indicated at a, for abutment and permanent union, as by rivets a' or other means. This construction is suggested since by reason of the symmetry of the two halves of the engine, it is evident that the halves may be pressed from the same die and may facilitate assembling of the other parts of the motor and their combustion engine havin mews? own union may be made at any time during the course of construction.

I claim as my invention:

1. A sheet metal casing for an internal combustion engine having a cylinder section and an open-ended crank case formed from sheet metal each side wall of the cylinder section being formed in one piece with the correspondin side wall of the crank case, and having a ottom plate to receive the cylinders with end walls for the crank case stamped inte ral with the bottom plate from a single blan and secured 'to the crank case adjacent the open ends thereof.

2. A sheet metal casing for an internal an open-ended crank case formed from s eet metal, a bottom filate to receive the cylinders, end walls for t e crank case stamped integral with the bottom plate from a single blank, flanges formed on the edges of the end lates to engage the inner surfaces of the slde walls of the crank case adjacent the open ends and means to secure said flanges directly to the side walls.

3. A sheet metal casing for an internal combustion engine having a bottom plate to receive the cylinders, end walls for the crank case stamped integral with the bottom plate from a single blank, flanges formed on the sides of the bottom plate, means to secure said flanges directly to the side walls of the crank ca'se, flanges formed on the edges of the end plates to engage the inner urface of the side walls of the crank case adjacent the open ends and means to secure said flanges directly to the side walls.

4. A sheet metal casing for an internal combustion engine having the side and end walls of the cylinder section formed integral. the end walls being stamped asopposed flaps and bent to form butt joints and a metal strip placed over the meeting edges against the inner faces and secured to the respective flips.

This speci cation signed this 20th day of June A. D. 1917.

AUGUST H. LEIPERT. 

